Relay



Jan. 26, 1937. c, LEAKE 2,069,169

RELAY Filed April 28, 1932 FIG. 1.

INVENTOR 78.6. a, Mum

' AITORNEY Patented 18.11.26, 1937' e I 2,069,169

RELAY RichardC. Leake, Rochester, N. Y; assignor to geluireral Railway Signal Company, Rochester,

Application April 28, 1932, Serial No. 608,035

12 Claims. (01. 200-166) This invention relates to relays and more parof Fig. 1 also with parts shown in section a d ticularly to a compact type of neutral relay for other parts broken away. .use in railway centralized traflic controlling sys- Referring to the accompanying drawing, the tems operating mechanism of the relay comprises a In certain selective types of railway centralized magnetic core I having a small threaded end on trafilc controlling systems, such as described for which is clamped a magnetic top member 2 by example in the application of N. D. Preston et al., a nut 3. An operating coil 4 and a stick coil 4 Ser. No. 455,304, filed May 24, 1930, a considerable are wound on the core I between insulating end number of relays is employed to effect the selecwashers 5 and 6. An armature 8 is arranged to 10 tionandcontrol of various trafiic controlling depivot about a slightly acute end 01 the magnetic l0 vices along the trackway. The limited space top member 2 and has an arm 8 extending above available for this number of relays and'the comthe top magnetic member 2 to form a slightly paratively large number of contacts which is reobtuse angle over its knife edge pivot. quired necessitates that these relays be of as sim- The top or operating arm 8 of this armature l5 ple and compact a design as, possible. However, has a rectangular hole therein into which is 16 the nature of the circuits in which these relays placed a retaining member 9 and held by screws are employed requires a more ruggedly conl0 which are threaded into the top magnetic structed relay and h vi m r r l p member 2; This retaining member 9 has edges tion than is found in the usual small relay Such extending over the side of the rectangular hole M as f r ex pl the y used in telephon in the armature with an inside edge out at an 2 practice. The ordinary telephone type relay al angle which forms a tangent to the are formed has the external circuit connections soldered perby th bt b d i th mature 3 h manently to their contact members, and in railrangement obviously holds the armature 8 against way centralized trafdc controlling systems, where an acute edge of th tgp member 2 yet, mt e; the relays must be removed from time to time slight pivoting motion t t,

. for maintenance or replacement, considerable Thi operating mechanism, as just, described, difiiculty, undue expense and lost time are exi employed t t t e plurality of spring perienced in removing such external circuit wires t t fingers, An insulating holding member and in making new soldered connections. ha v m ta t finger l3, fixed spring In view of the above and other considerations, t t, finger 14 end rigid t [5 moulded 30 it is P p in accordance wi h t e present therein. The method of moulding these contact vention to'construct a relay which will possess fingers into t holding member 2 1s cleefly the necessary reliability of operation, which will Shown in t sectional View of 1 1, t t th be of sufiiciently rugged Construction, and which fingers and stops have three enlarged holes therewill operate a number of contacts to meet the rein t a smaller hole through the insulating quirements of a centralized trafiic controlling holding material concentric therewhh t system of the above mentioned type. It is further permjttlng insulating materiel fining t ewe proposed to, provide means which may be incortherehetween t fo m an insulating bushing porated in such a rel y whereby it may be easily tween the contact fingers and screws placed in 40 removed from service without disturbing the exth ho1es as later ib d, 40 ternal wire connections thereto. The movable contact finger I3 is made rigid Other objects, purposes and characteristic feain its center portion by bending down the edges tures of the invention will appear as the descripthereof. as Shown in 2 with the fl b P tion thereof progresses during which references tion 11881 the holding member l2 Permitting movement of this rigid portion with another will be made to the accompanying drawing which shows the invention in a manner to make it easily understood, rather than with the view of showing flexible portion at the extreme free end holding low resistance, are resisting contact points II. The fixed contact finger I4 is flexible throughthe particular construction preferably employed out its entire length with its free end bum m prance and m which: cated as shown in Fig. 1 with similar contact 50 i 1 is a P vlew of Felay @mtructed m points l8 arranged in engageable relation to the accordance with the present invention with parts Contact points f the movable finger |3 thereof sectioned and other parts broken away to hi lower t t'fl er holding member i2 more clearly show the construction; and, has a strip l6 also moulded therein which has a Fi 2 is a id elevational view of the relay side projection I6 to which a coil lead wire 23 herein.

is soldered, and in the embodiment shown in the accompanying drawing, a similar side projection I3 is provided on one of the movable fingers vl3 to which is soldered a lead wire 26 of the stick coil 4 The side projection I3 is provided on the movable finger 13 because the'application of this relay in the circuits of a centralized traflic controlling system" requires that the stick coil energizing circuit be carried through a normalmovable and fixed contact fingers, such as shown; in Fig. 2, which comprises a movable finger i3 engageable with a front or a back fixed finger I. These contact finger holding members I2 and 19 may then be assembled in a vertical group comprising the required contact arrangement and are held in such a vertical group by through screws 20 threaded into a top retaining member 21. A third through screw 22 threaded into the top member 2 may be employedto clamp this vertical group, thus assembled, to the top magnetic member 2, and any number of these vertical groups to meet the contact requirements may then be assembled side by side in a similar manner, four of which vertical groups are shown The armature operating arm 8 has four upturned extensions each with an insulating cap 24 fixed thereto which engages the lower side of the lower movable contact finger 13 of each vertical contact group. The movable contact fingers 13 have two smallrectangular-slotsthereln as shown inF'lg. 1 into which slot is placed a small end of insulating pushers 25 which are sumciently thin to freely pass through the slot forming the bifurcation of the fixed fingers H as well as a similar slot' in the stops 15. The center portion of these insulating pushers 25 being wider than the ends passing through the slots in the movable fingers l3 engage the top of the lower movable finger and the bottom of the movable finger next above to thereby effect the operation of all movable fingers in unison.

It is obvious from the view shown in Fig. 2

- that the arrangement of operating the movable fingers from a point nearer the holding member for these fingers than the contact points enables the proper travel to be obtained in the operation of the contact points by a comparatively small armature travel. Although this same operation can be duplicated by employing a longer armature operating arm 8 in operating the fingers from a point directly beneath or in front of the contact points of the fingers, such an arrangement would require that the contact assembly be placed farther toward the rear of the relay insulating panel carries two diagonally arranged studs 3| moulded therein and arranged to enter holes in the downwardly extending portion of the top magnetic member 2. 'A hole is provided in this insulating panel 21 to receive an extension '1 of the magnetic core I which is round at its end to guide the relay when being assembled on the panel 21. 'Small spacing washers 32 are provided to separate the downwardly extending portion of the top magnetic member 2 from the transverse supporting member 28 and elongated diagonally arranged cap nuts 33 (see Fig. 2) are threaded onto the extending ends of the studs 3| to clamp the relay against this transverse support 28', which diagonally elongated nuts 33 are made sufiiciently long to extend to the front of the relay which facilitates in the removal thereof when several relays are assembled in close relation on the support 28 and permit close assembly of relay units, in that the nuts 33 for adjacent relay units are vertically spaced from each other, due to the diagonal arrangement, so that the adjacent units can be placed within a horizontal distance of one nut width from each other.

A large rectangular depression is formed inthe relay side or the insulating panel 21 in alignment with the rear of the contact fingers. A plurality of slots'isformedin the back portion of this rectangular depression of the member 21 which slots are spaced the same as the contact fingers of the relay, but are arranged to align between adjacent pairs of such contact fingers. A top terminal strip 35 and a lower terminal strip 36 are placed in each of these slots and separated by an insulatingspacer 31, which strips have shoulders, formed by transverse corrugations, engaging the inside edge of the panel 21 to thereby'prevent being forced outwardly toward the rearv of the panel.

The insulating spacer 31 is placed in the slots 'in the panel 21 after the strips 35 and 36 are in Each of. the contact fingers of the relay as well I as the coil terminal strip 16 has an extension on tering the depression in the panel 21, which extension is twisted and formed in a shape clearly shown in Fig. 2. The twisting of these exten-- sions in this shape provides a small surface contacting with the sides of the strips 35 and 36 thereby concentrating the entire pressure effected by the forming of the extensions on this small surface. This arrangement has been found in practice to produce a more dependable low resistance contact than by distributing the contacting pressure over a larger area. Although it is obvious that certain pairs of these extensions have their free ends bent inwardly, such ends are at alternate sides of these extensions, as clearly shown in Fig. 1, which thereby provides the proper clearance for electrical insulation.

These extensions arealso biased by bending to the proper shape,=so that, when the relay is assembledon the support 28,they engage'sides of associated terminal strips 35 and 36, as shown,

and it is obvious that the sliding motion of the relay in assembling on the support 28 effects a wiping action to these contacts which will act to I clean the-contact surface and'conseq'uently al- I ,ways' insure a good "electrical connection between the contact fingers and the terminal strips. The ends of the terminal strips and 36 which extend in the rear of the insulating panel 21 are shaped to receive wire connections, and from the view in Fig. 1, it may be seen that these strips are cut away on vertically alternate sides to provide the proper clearance for good insulation as well as to facilitate in the soldering of the wire connections thereto.

The contact fingers are enclosed by a cover 39 which may be snapped into place or held by suitable screws, not shown ill the present embodiment. This cover is preferably of a transparent insulating material which may be moulded into the shape shown, thereby preventing dust particles from entering the contact mechanism and yet permiting the contact points to be examined without removing the cover. Inasmuch as the operating coil is not enclosed with the contacts, the heat generated by the energization thereof is readily dissipated, thus removing the possibility of moisture collecting in the enclosed part due to condensation caused by the heat of the operating coil when the complete relay is enclosed in the single cover. The quick detachable means for connecting the contacts and the coil energizing circuit to their external wire connections is also enclosed by the depression of the insulating panel 21, thereby preventing dust particles from affect ing the electrical characteristics of their contacts.

The quick detachable means for making the external connections to the present relay is an optional feature, that is, the insulating panel 21 may be omitted from the transverse support 28 and the relay bolted directly to this support. The extensions of the contact fingers are then shaped for soldering the external wires directly thereto, and inasmuch as the support 28 is cut away to receive the extensions of the contact fingers, this form of the present relay is interchangeable on the same mounting means with relays having the quick detachable feature.

A relay has thus been provided which meets the requirements of a railway centralized tramc controlling system, or that is, it has a very rugged construction with a contact operating capacity to meet the requirements and a simplicity of design which permits an economical construction and insures a very reliable operation.' The arrangement of the contact mechanism permits the changing of the contact capacityor arrangement of the contacts after the relay has been placed in service without additional machining or rearranging of either the relay operating mechanism or the stationary terminal panel.

The above rather specific description of one form of the present invention is given solely by the way of example and not intended in any manner whatsoever in a limiting sense. It is also to'be understood that various modifications, adaptations and alterations may be applied to meet the requirements of practice without in any manner departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention, except as limited by the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a relay, a plurality of spaced contact fingers having a portion moulded into a block of insulating material, the portion of the contact fingers moulded into said block being apertured, said block being apertured to produce smaller holes therein concentric with the contact finger holes.

In a e ay. finger Operating means, a mu- -and a" retaining screw passing through the vertical pile of such blocks to hold the contact fingers thereof in operable relation to said operating means.

3. In a relay, an operator, a plurality of movable contact fingers having rigid portions operated by said operator, and a plurality of upper and lower flexible spring contact fingers engageable by associated movable contact fingers, said movable contact fingers having a flexible spring portion adjacent the rigid portion thereof to permit movement of the rigid portion.

4. In a relay, an operator, a plurality of movable contact fingers having rigid portions operated by said operator with a flexible end portion carrying low resistance contact points, and a plurality of upper and lower flexible spring contact fingers having low resistance contact points at their free ends engageable by said low resistance contact points on associated movable, contact fingers, said movable contact fingers having a flexible spring portion adjacent the rigid portion thereof to permit movement of the rigid portion.

5. In combination, an operator, a plurality of fixed and movable spring contact fingers operated by said operator, a depressed insulating panel, the

- depression in the panel aligning with the ends of said contact fingers, a plurality of terminal strips in the depression in said panel in correlation with ends of said contact fingers and extending through said panel to receive wires associated with corresponding contactfingers, and extensions integral with said contact fingers having twisted ends shaped to engage alternate sides of associated terminal strips.

6. In combination, in a relay, an operator, a plurality of fixed and movable spring contact fingers operated by said operator, a depressed insulating panel, the depression in the panel aligning with. the end of said contact fingers, a plurality of terminal strips in the depression in said panel in correlation with the ends of said contact fingers and extending through said panel to receive wires associated with corresponding contact fingers, insulating spacers fitted into said panel to separate pairs of said terminal strips, and extensions integral with said contact fingers having twisted ends shaped to engage alternate sides of associated terminal strips, said terminal strips having transverse corrugations resting against the inside surface of said panel.

'7. In combination, in a relay, an operator, a plurality of fixed and movable spring contact fingers operated by said operator, a depressed insulating panel, the depression in the panel aligning with the end of said contact fingers, a plurality of terminal strips in the depression in said panel in correlation with the ends of said contact fingers and extending through said panel to receive wires associated with corresponding contact fingers, insulating spacers fitted into said panel to separate pairs of saidterminal strips with an enlarged head engaging the outside surface of the panel, and extensions integral with said contact fingers having twisted ends shaped to engage alternate sides of associated terminal ,strips, said terminal strips having transverse corrugations resting against the inside surface 01' said panel and one of each of said pairs of terminal strips having a downturned end portion entering a notch in its associated insulating spacer to thereby retain said terminal strips and insulating spacers in the panel.

8. In combination, in a relay, a plurality of fixed and movable spring contact fingers, a depressed insulating panel, the depression in the panel aligning with the ends of said contact fingers, a plurality of terminal strips in the depression in said panel in correlation with ends of said contactfingers and extending through said panel to receive wires associated with corresponding contact fingers, and extensions integral with said contact fingers having twisted ends shaped to engage alternate sides of associated terminal strips.

9. In combinationgin a relay, a plurality of fixed and movable spring contact fingers, a depressed insulating panel, the depression in the panel aligning with the end of said contact fingers, a plurality of terminal strips in'the depression in said panel in correlation with the ends of said-contact fingers and extending through said panel to receive wires associated with corresponding contact fingers, insulating spacers fitted into said panel to separate pairs of said terminal strips, and extensions integral with said contact fingers having twisted ends shaped to engage alternate sides of associated terminal strips, said terminal strips having transverse corrugations resting against the inside surface of said panel.

' '10. In combination, in a relay, a plurality of fixed and movable spring contact fingers, a, depressed insulating panel, the depression in the panel aligning with the end of said contact fingers, a plurality of terminal strips in the depression in said panel in correlation with the ends of said contact fingers and extending through said panel to receive wires associated with corresponding contact fingers, insulating spacers fitted into said panel to separate pairs of said terminalstrips with an enlargedhea/d engaging the outside surface of the'panel, and extensions integral with said contact fingers havingtwisted ends shaped to engage alternate sides of associated terminal strips, said terminal strips having transverse corrugations resting against the inside surface oI said panel and one of each'of said pairs of terminal strips having a downturned end portion entering a notch in its associated insulating spacer to thereby retain said terminal strips and insulating spacers inthe panel.

'11. In combination, in' a relay, a plurality of fixed and movable spring contact fingers, an insulating panel, a plurality of terminal strips in said panel in correlation with ends of said contact fingers and extending through said panel to receive wires associated with corresponding contact fingers, and extensions integral with said 

